2 Kaze and Dave

They stood there half scared half amazed. Silenced by the boy's sudden aggressive act. Father approached the boy calmly, as if nothing had happened.

"Young man, do not be afraid," Father reached for the boy's hair, and stroke it gently. "We are no enemies, but a family." The others watched from a safe distance, muttering among themselves. The boy lifted his head to look at Father, then to the children behind him. He did not make a single sound.

"Do you have a name?"

The boy was still silent.

"You don't have a name?" Father chuckled casually "Nevermind, I will call you Kaze." (*pronounced as Ka-zeh)

"Those eyes you have remind me of Kazeh, from that movie," Father gave a gentle smile, looking into his crimson red pupils. "Kids, don't you think?" The children did not answer, they were surprised how calm Father was behaving. "He will be joining us, which means having the same food and education," Father said as he turned around to head for the large crater. "Make sure he likes the place, kids, show him around."

"Hey, can you speak?" Excalibur said, pushing her face towards the boy. Kaze did not move a muscle.

"I think he is just acting cool." The young man said.

"Gargoyle, I don't think you know what cool means." Gargoyle was the young man. His power was always seen by the children. He liked showing it off to everyone, how he could turn into a metal demon, and lift up trashed cars to brag.

"He is more to the emo side." Kaze gave them a quick glance, and just quietly followed them. "Dave, why don't you take lead?" Dave was the energetic boy, he particularly changed his name, because he didn't want to be named after his uncool power, which was flexible limbs.

"Sure." The four walked around the Oasis, which was not that spacious. It was a shelter after all. It truly was surprising that they could find a place like this under the shroud. If a such a place was found, people would fight to live in it, or destroy it to guarantee no one stepped into it. The origin of the Oasis was still a mystery, and the residents in it just assume that it was Father's power. Despite that, people still enjoyed living in it, they were almost proud of being a member of the Oasis, having the honour to live in a paradise. While everyone was suffering, they lived in a shelter with miniature streets and houses in it, had education, and hospitality.

"Um, so this is an apple." Dave picked up an apple and gave it to Kaze awkwardly.

"I'm sure he knows what am apple is."

"I didn't know what an apple was before I was brought here!" Dave exclaimed.

"And he can't even talk!" Kaze stared at the apple in his hand, and squashed it.

"Does this mean he knows what it is?" They all looked at him, confused. "Whatever, onto the next-" They pointed at a tiny plaza. It had a small pool in the middle, which was supposed to be a waterfall, but owning one would be too filthy. Surrounding were small huts, with people passing by to grab food and resources.

"All the food is stored here. They are all free. As long as you are living here. And that thing behind is where we are educated, and um, there is a mini arena where we test our powers, because life is hard."

Kaze did not seem not to be listening, but when he heard the word "arena", he seemed to be animated. It would not be strange, as his design was aggressive looking, enough to scare people.

"Want a little game?" Dave asked. "Dave." Excalibur suddenly sounded very serious. "You saw what he did to the wall. He is not human." "Gargoyle can also do that. Right? He is human." He realized how uncertain he sounded, and looked to the ground. Kaze left him no time to hesitate, and was already heading towards the arena. "Remember how Father said his head was human?"

"I doubt that."

Kaze and Dave were heading towards the arena, the other two following unwillingly. "You call time out, I will stop them if things get bad." Gargoyle was worried, he hadn't had the slightest idea of what Dave was thinking. He would be fighting a cyborg boy that destroyed the wall and the roof together in one hit.

"I hate this Kaze."

Excalibur led the two into the ring, and sat on a bench that was nearest to the field. She could imagine what would happen. Dave's power stood no chance against Kaze, even if Kaze did not have body parts made for battle, Dave would have a hard fighting him. He was also a new comer, who received no combat training. Then there was Dave, walking into the centre. He looked confident, and he started waving at the audience, which only had Gargoyle and Excalibur. Not long after that, Kaze came out of the tunnel that connected to the resting area. The two stood on the sand as they looked into each others' eyes.

"Let's see what you've got, robot boy." Dave let out a smug grin and readied himself. Dave leaned forward, his hands clenched into fists. Kaze stood there, waiting for his attack.

"Whenever you're ready." But Kaze had no plans on attacking first, so Dave charged at him. His legs were glowing, and suddenly they turned into springs. He jumped 10 feet into the air and tried to kick Kaze airborne. Kaze stepped aside and readied his arm. His arm made a metallic ring as he moved it, and started charging. Missing the attack, Dave landed next to Kaze and extended his arms to grab him. His arms twitched and reshaped, extending to four meters long. Kaze leaned to the right to dodge, quickly turning his body to face his enemy. The arms were still swinging at him, he blocked it with the uncharged arm and punched with the other. Although it did not land, the pressure was so great that it created a strong gale, sending Dave into the air. He instinctively turned his feet into a block of flesh and cushioned the fall. To his surprise, Kaze was already behind him. Dave immediately turned his arms into giant pistons and rammed the ground, dust dancing in the air.

When Kaze regained his vision, Dave was already on the other side of the ring. Dave raised his arms and they turned into tentacles, and he batted with them furiously. Kaze closed his eyes to concentrate, after a short moment he raised both of his arms and punched the air relentlessly.

"What the..." Excalibur and Gargoyle were surprised, their eyes were healthy, but they could follow his attacks at all. At first they thought Kaze was just attacking randomly, but in fact he was blocking each attack precisely with a punch. Kaze suddenly twisted his wrist to seize Dave's extended arm. He pulled his tentacle-like arm and was dragged with it, the floor scratching his face. Not being able to endure the pain, he reverted his arms back to normal. It was at that moment Kaze raised his arm, the engines pumping, ready to deliver his final blow - to his head. Gargoyle quickly turned into his gargoyle form and dashed right between them and pulled Dave away. Kaze's super-charged karate chop struck through the air, missing because of Gargoyle's sudden interruption. The attack smashed the ground, leaving it severely cracked.

"What's wrong with you!!?" Excalibur rushed down and said to Kaze. She opened her mouth to say something, but she gave up. She knew that Kaze will give no response. She left Kaze for Dave. "Round two! Round two!" Dave was screaming in excitement. Excalibur slapped him hard in the face. "He tried to kill you!! Stop provoking him!" "What do you mean? We're having fun!" Excalibur ignored him and just slapped him again. Gargoyle looked at Kaze, giving him a shove. "You...y...Damn it! Father should have never brought you back."

Excalibur and Gargoyle were very worried. They started to have more and more doubts on Kaze. Thinking he might have been sent by the Government to kill them, or that his brain was also automated. Dave was not afraid of Kaze at all, and kept talking to him, trying to get him to answer. Father knew about this matter, and he only turned around and scratched his beard. "Everyone has demons, his is probably just a bit more than yours. We should tolerate that especially, as fate has chosen as to be together, as brothers and sisters of the Oasis." Father's words were always encouraging, sage and optimistic. It was true that he was wise, and he was a mentor, a father and a savior, in the eyes of all residents of the Oasis.

"Maybe we should put that aside. Go get dinner. Don't forget your evening class."

That night, Kaze seemed even more unresponsive. He wouldn't even look at you when you spoke to him. But Dave never gave up on trying to impress him, and he offered him something. He lugged Kaze along as he ran, and he reached a lamppost. "Come. I've seen Father use this before." He imitated the way Father drew in the air. He kept drawing circles but nothing happened. "Uh...just wait..." He was starting to lose focus, his arm was already aching. Kaze pulled him back, and reached out an arm. He drew a pattern in the air smoothly, and stood back. Just like that, the translucent gateway emerged. "Want a walk?"